


hancock

by panpass



Series: Ricky / E.J.: Intermission [1]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), M/M, e.j. wanted to sign it but pulled a hancock whoops, he broke his arm skateboarding, i don't normally do these, its 2 am please help me, this'll all be pretty slow-burn by the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22627615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panpass/pseuds/panpass
Summary: ricky breaks his arm in a skating incident, and the following day provides him with what could be considered a strange interaction.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/E.J. Caswell, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Series: Ricky / E.J.: Intermission [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627894
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	hancock

**Author's Note:**

> first of many little bits to come.   
> set a week or two after the happenings of the first season. 
> 
> any critiques on my writing are welcome!

Okay, so maybe after all the time Ricky had spent perfecting his dance moves instead of skateboarding, the East High junior would’ve had enough sense to start slow. Well, slower. It wasn’t as if he’d forgotten how to ride the thing, he’d just… taken a short hiatus to pursue other things. More pressing things - like getting his girlfriend back. 

Wait; that sounded bad, didn’t it? Even if it did accurately sum up the events of the fall musical, Ricky still felt a bit guilty every time he saw E.J. He hardly even understood why he even felt that way. Was it the expression on E.J.’s face whenever he looked in the general direction of the pair? He almost always looked upset in one way, and Ricky could hardly stand it. He needed a distraction - preferably one that didn’t make him feel incredibly guilty when he’d think about the male senior’s countenance.

So, that’s what had led to that fateful day in the skatepark - the day prior, if anyone cared to know exactly when it had happened. It had been around 12:36 P.M., and the sixteen-year-old had been accompanied by his best friend Big Red. It was only supposed to be a simple blunt fakie. He’d done them what felt like hundreds of times, and nothing had ever gone as wrong as it had in that moment. Ricky had lost his balance, dumb as that sounded, and as it was one of the larger pipes he’d found himself falling a good six or seven feet. 

He hadn’t heard the crack, surprisingly enough, but he sure as hell _felt_ it. Before the adrenaline had had a chance to kick in pain shot up through his right arm like lightning, leaving the boy gasping for air as he rolled onto his back. His arm had hardly moved, not only because Ricky’s body refused to hurt itself further, but because Big Red had reached his side before he’d had a chance to grab his arm.

After what felt like an hour - though it was only about twenty minutes - an ambulance arrived, proceeded by Ricky’s father by about five minutes. Big Red had managed to get him sitting up, but the adrenaline and the shock of what had occurred left him stuck there for fear he might pass out. 

To put it simply: it had been quite the evening. 

Morning too, as that’s when they’d put the cast on and explained all of the bits and pieces about safety and care to the boy and his father. While his father had paid close attention, ricky had unfortunately not. He’d zoned out again, taking in the weight of the cast and how enclosed and trapped his arm felt between the throbs of pain. Ricky wasn’t the best in tight situations - and the prospect of going to school with a cast on his right arm after having not told his girlfriend was almost more suffocating than the plaster. 

It hadn’t been a fracture, no, it’d been a break. A clean one, luckily, that hadn’t broke the skin, but the fall had been from such a height that his arm had paid the price. 

Once his father managed to pry the hospital pillow from his arms, Ricky was discharged. They’d gotten into the car and had traveled about half the distance to the school before either spoke, Mike being the one to break the silence. 

“You sure about this Rick? I wouldn’t mind some company on my day off if you aren’t up for school today.” At his father’s words Ricky looked up from where he’d trained his eyes on his white plaster cast. He’d almost shriveled in on himself in the backseat, his backpack resting on his lap and entrapped between his arms - both good and bad. His father had certainly noticed his son’s anxious tick and searched for a way to help him feel better. 

Ricky didn’t know what he wanted to do though. Well, actually he did: he wanted to go back in time to the day before and stop himself from ever going to the skatepark. Instead, he could’ve then just gone over to Big Red’s and hung out there watching old YouTube videos - anything that wouldn’t have led to his current situation. It almost seemed like the closer they got to the school, the more his arm began to ache and hurt despite the painkillers he’d taken less than an hour prior. 

He knew that he’d have to face everyone anyway, and that Big Red had probably already told everyone in their friend group - including Nini. How many texts had she sent, how many worried calls? Ricky could only guess, since his phone had died overnight and he didn’t have a charger on hand since he’d been expecting to sleep at home the night before. 

It was better to just get it over with, rip off the figurative bandaid. Besides, it’s not like anyone would make fun of him, right? In middle school, a broken arm was like a war scar - everyone wanted to see it and gawk at it and ask how you got it. A failed skating incident probably wasn’t the coolest way to do it, but that’s what he’d done. 

“It’ll be fine…” He managed to let out in an almost inaudible voice, gaze now fixed out the window to see the buildings fly by. He knew, very soon, that it would be the school’s sign whisking by and that he’d then be forced to confront his friends and classmates, and he almost seemed to shrink down even further. 

As he’d braced himself for, the car drove past the sign and up to the front entrance. Even once the car had parked, there were a few moments of silence before his father spoke. “Would you like me to come in with you, or do you just want the note to save you the embarrassment?” Mike attempted to crack a small, teasing smile though it quickly dissipated when Ricky made no motion to share it, only shaking his head and accepting the note from his dad. He was a bit slow to open the passenger side car door, struggling for a moment to slide the bag over his shoulder in the cramped environment, though after a minute or so he succeeded and opened the door. Cold air rushed back at them, nipping at his nose and cheeks almost immediately. Mike watched as Ricky stepped out of the car, the same deep-set frown on his face at his son’s suffering before him. 

“I’ll be here to pick you up after school then, alright?” Ricky nodded at his father’s words, closing the car door and trudging up the steps to the school’s main entrance. The door’s the students entered at the beginning of the school day were locked, much to Ricky’s discomfort as he walked through the cold to get to the office entrance. It wasn’t much further - only about ten yards, but it still felt like quite the distance to him that day. 

Soon enough though, he gripped the door’s handle with his good hand and pulled it open, using his shoulder to bump it back open a bit as he came through. He quickly moved through the waiting section of the office, moving to the secretaries desk before providing the note. The woman hardly asked a question before allowing to sign-in and go back through the school. He reached the glass divider just as someone else opened it and stepped through. Ricky had stepped back to leave them room, but whoever it was stood there for a few moments as though they might’ve been frozen. Ricky’s gaze was somewhat trained on the floor in order to avoid things such as eye contact, but the silence almost forced him to raise his gaze - which was then met by the one and only E.J. Caswell. No one expression was apparent on E.J.’s face when Ricky’s eyes glanced over it. He was already uncomfortable, and regretted saying no to his father’s offer to go home. Why did it bother him so much, E.J. seeing that he’d gone and broken his arm? The sixteen-year-old could think of no explanation, and was glad when the senior spoke and broke the ice so Ricky wouldn’t have to.   
  
“Hey.” The taller male’s voice trailed off for a second, his eyes never leaving the cast. Different emotions flashed, mostly confusion or concern. Why concern, Ricky hadn’t the slightest inkling. “What… what happened to you?” E.J. motioned with a slight nod of his head to the cast, and Ricky unfroze a bit. 

“Oh, um. Just had a bit of a fall over the weekend. Nothing major.” Well, that was dumb. Ricky nearly facepalmed in front of E.J.. Clearly, it was rather major considering the cast encasing his arm. E.J.’s gaze shifted from Ricky’s downcast face back to his injured arm, before he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a pen. It was such a quick and unwarranted action that the junior couldn’t even comprehend why it had happened. Instead, he just stared blankly at the other male, who stared back at him, expression unreadable. 

“May I?” Another motion of his head towards the cast, and Ricky immediately understood what he was asking. The male was inclined to wonder why the other teen wanted to, though he nodded anyway. It was a bit strange, coming from a senior whose girlfriend he’d stolen, but he just nodded. 

“Uh; yeah - yeah sure go ahead.” He held out his arm a bit as best he could, wincing at the strain of the movement, and E.J. quickly pushed it lightly back up against Ricky’s side. The boy almost found himself beet-red in his confusion when the taller male knelt a bit as he wrote his name, before straightening again and capping his pen. His gaze shifted over the cast again, eyeing his handiwork before he slid the pen back into his pocket. 

“Perfect.” He looked back to Ricky’s face. “See you around,” a quick goodbye before the male left the office, heading back down the hall - likely to his class from wherever he’d been previously. Ricky stood there for a few extra moments, allowing what had just occurred to sink in. He looked down at his cast to see what E.J. had written, half expecting something snarky or a tease. Instead though, he’d just written his initials in huge letters: E-J-C. Ricky couldn’t help but to let out a small snort, a little more at ease now that he’d interacted with someone. He looked back to where E.J. had disappeared to, before opening the office door again and exiting into the school’s lobby, taking one last glance to where the senior had disappeared before glancing at his arm. Despite the absence of the male, he still found himself silently offering a thanks to him - something he did _way_ to often.

“Alright Hancock… didn’t realize my arm was the Declaration of Independence, but thanks… I guess.” 


End file.
